The field of the invention relates generally to electrical fuses and, more specifically, to time-delay fuses.
Fuses are widely used as overcurrent protection devices to prevent costly damage to electrical circuits. Fuse terminals typically form an electrical connection between an electrical power source or power supply and an electrical component or a combination of components arranged in an electrical circuit. One or more fusible links or elements, or a fuse element assembly, is connected between the fuse terminals, so that when electrical current flowing through the fuse exceeds a predetermined limit, the fusible elements melt and open one or more circuits through the fuse to prevent electrical component damage.
At least some known time-delay fuses utilize a dual-element configuration having an overcurrent protection element and a short-circuit protection element that are electrically connected together in series. However, known fuses of this type exhibit a one-to-one pairing of the different elements, with only one overcurrent protection element being provided for each short-circuit protection element. This one-to-one pairing scheme often results in a dual-element configuration that occupies an undesirable amount of space and, hence, causes an undesirable increase in the size of the fuse as a whole. It would be useful, therefore, to provide a more compact dual-element configuration for time-delay fuses, thereby enabling such fuses to be more versatile in their use and more cost-effective in their manufacture.